IBM is in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems for close to $7 billion, according to the New York Times.

Should the deal go through, it would be the biggest IBM acquisition in history, and analysts see it as a potentially very successful partnership, as both companies share a similar R&D strategy.

The new company would encompass a multitude of markets, and numerous platforms and technologies developed by IBM and Sun over the years. Both companies support open source operating systems and software, and both have a strong foothold in large, lucrative markets, such as telecommunications companies, government agencies and other, generally big businesses.

IBM and Sun account for about 65 percent of the Unix server market, and about 42 percent of the total server market. This fact could potentially raise some antitrust issues, but it all depends on how regulators choose to define the server market.

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